That Missing Ingredient
by WishingDreamer5
Summary: The night before the Mark of Mastery Exam, Aqua can't fall sleep, no matter what she tries. It's a good thing that Terra's there to keep her company and get her mind off of things... Although the method he uses to succeed might be a little... Terra-ble.
1. Midnight Snack

**A/N: Originally written for LJ's KH Drabble Community, Challenge [286] Anticipation. E****njoy. ;D**

**By the way, the cover for this story is drawn by the wonderful ~luckcharm (aka The Writing Artist) on deviantArt. Please don't use it without her permission!**

**Thanks: M. L. Ayala, my beta. :)**

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Aqua sighed, her eyes never leaving the ceiling. She'd been tossing and turning in her bed for what felt like ages. One couldn't blame her, though. Tomorrow was the big day, which was why she couldn't sleep. The Mark of Mastery Exam, the ultimate test that would determine her future. The anticipation was killing her. And her lack of sleep would surely kill her tomorrow.

She glanced over at the alarm clock on her nightstand, but that didn't make her any happier. It was exactly half past two, which meant that after four hours, she still hadn't managed to fall asleep. This wasn't good…

Thinking that maybe a nice cup of hot milk (since there was no chocolate powder left, courtesy of Ven) could help her, she slid out of bed and quietly made her way to the kitchen. At night, the huge castle was always cold and that made her wish she'd stayed in her room. Well, it was too late for that now.

The blue-haired pupil had no problem finding the way in the dark, what with the moonlight falling through the huge windows in the hallway. It gave her a safe feeling.

The kitchen, however, was a whole different story. Thankfully, she knew her way to the refrigerator even with her eyes closed. She opened the refrigerator and bent to get the carton of milk when…

"Why, hello there."

Aqua let out a startled yelp when she heard the whisper in her ear, almost busting the refrigerator's door in the process. Her Keyblade Rainfall materialized in her hand, just when she saw who it was.

"Terra!" she stuttered, dematerializing Rainfall again. She put her hand over her heart; it was beating twice as hard now. "Don't sneak up on people like that! You nearly gave me a heart-attack!"

"Sorry, I honestly didn't want to scare you…" he said, even though she spotted a smirk tugging at his lips. As an afterthought he added, "Even if that could be to my benefit tomorrow."

To be honest, she wouldn't be surprised if Terra had waited in the dark to surprise her.

Aqua let out a nervous laugh and watched how the brunet turned on the lights. She blinked, shielding her eyes for a moment, until they got used to the light.

"Can't sleep?" the male teen asked.

The bluenette shook her head. "Not really."

He sighed. "Me neither…"

It was then that she spotted the steaming mug he was holding. It was the one with the moogles on it, which she'd given to him as a birthday present. Before she could question what was in it, he put it on the table and gently guided her to a vacant chair.

"Sit down," was all he said.

Surprised, Aqua did as she was told. Terra went to the refrigerator and took out the carton of milk. Next, he headed to the microwave. Within a few minutes, he'd heated up some milk and poured it into a blue mug that belonged to Aqua.

After adding some honey, he put the mug on the table in front of her. "There you go. If this can't make you sleep like a baby, then I don't know what will."

"…Thanks."

Aqua put her hands around the mug to warm them, as Terra sat down across from her. A comfortable silence set between them.

Leave it to Terra to make me feel better again, she thought with a small smile.

It was moments like these that made her feel so lucky to have a friend like Terra. His presence made every difference in the world.

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**A/N: Hope you liked it, because I decided to make a two-shot out of this. If everything goes well, the next chapter will be posted this weekend. :)**


	2. Almost Succeeding

**A/N: The second chapter of the two-shot. And I bet you're not surprised that it's up much later than I promised. XD Anyways, thanks a ton for the reviews, favorites and alerts, guys! Hope you'll like this chapter, too! :)**

**Thanks: MonMonCandie, AquaStormXIV, xXxGothicButterflySpiritxXx, The Masked Wanderer, Jizzle Pop, The Trio of Twilight, Terra ForceXIII, CloudKittyVII, farfan, fanofmanyfriendofall, Kureaa-chan, XxxJeannaxxX, and M. L. Ayala, my beta.**

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~ _"I was just wondering... what will change between us after tomorrow?"_ ~

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It was silent between them for a moment, the sound of the ticking clock being the only noise in the huge kitchen, as both teenagers looked at everywhere except at each other. By now, the cozy kitchen was filled with the aroma of warm milk and something sweet and lingering that actually managed to make them feel tired. It felt as though time was standing still, what with the thick quietness that was laying over them like a blanket.

Terra was looking at his mug, seemingly deep in thought about something judging by that frown. It probably had something to do with what would await them tomorrow. The index finger of his left hand was rubbing absent-mindedly over the smiling moogle's head on his cup. The image of a serious-looking Terra, silently drinking from a happy Moogle mug, while staring off into the distance just looked so incredibly hilarious to Aqua at the moment. Now she was sure that it had been a brilliant idea to give him this for his birthday. It always managed to entertain her. After all, it wasn't every day that she saw this side of him. He _definitely_ didn't look as badass as Ven always thought he was. Actually, it was almost... _adorable_ in a Terra's-such-a-softie-way.

Before the blue-haired teen could stop herself, she started to giggle behind her hand. As expected, this caught the brunet's attention and curiously, he turned his gaze on her.

He raised a dark eyebrow at the bluenette's strange behavior. Was she_ laughing_ at him?

"_What_?" he said, suspiciously.

"Nothing," she quickly replied, her voice an octave higher. She bit her lower lip in order to keep herself from laughing (not that it was helping much).

There was no way she'd ever tell Terra what she was thinking at the moment. She had two reasons for that; one, this was _Terra_ they were talking about and that said enough already. Two, he hated it when she called him adorable, naive, a softie, or some other word that meant more or less the same.

Terra narrowed his cobalt blue eyes almost dangerously at the female teen, as though at this point, he could guess what this was all about. "Okay... I don't think I even _want_ to know."

She quickly averted her gaze and started to think of all kinds of different, hard spells, hoping that that would keep her mind busy for long enough to compose herself. The last thing she needed was for Terra to think that she was laughing at him (because she wasn't, honestly!). When it didn't, she started to concentrate on her breathing instead, making it slow down. Honestly, everything seemed so funny when you didn't allow yourself to laugh. And the fact that she could feel Terra's eyes on her wasn't helping much, either.

Not too long after that, the peaceful silence returned in the room, save for when either of them would take a sip from their drink, or put their mugs back on the wooden dinner table. The thing with silences between Terra and her was that they were actually quite pleasant. Then again, they had been friends for such a long time. She shouldn't expect any different.

"So why were you-"

"I bet that-"

Just like they had started talking at the same time, they stopped simultaneously, thinking that the other would continue now that they offered them a chance to do so. When that didn't happen, both Terra and Aqua looked at each other, blinking.

"Sorry," they uttered, simultaneously again, before laughing softly.

This was almost looking like some first, awkward date, in which neither of them knew how to break the silence...

The brunet male scratched the back of his head, giving her a sheepish look, because he obviously didn't know what to do now.

"You go first," Aqua offered with a small smile.

At once, Terra shook his head, locking eyes with her. "No, you go first."

"Okay then... Why were you sitting in the dark?"

Terra flashed her a knowing smirk, as if he'd been waiting for this question all time. "Believe it or not, but it wasn't because I wanted to scare you... this time. It's just that I can think better in the dark and it helps me relax when I think that I have all the time... I guess that's what the darkness does to me."

"I see..." The blue-haired pupil said, nodding thoughtfully.

It was an interesting, albeit strange theory.

Terra nodded faintly and used the new silence to take a small sip of his milk and honey, because let's face it; cooled milk with honey tasted too horrible for words.

"I bet that Ven's gonna be really pissed at us for not waking him up and inviting him to our midnight party," the male teen then said with a chuckle.

"Yes, but he would be even angrier if we actually do wake him up now. You know how much he loves his sleep," she reminded him.

"True..."

Again, silence followed after that and they shifted slightly in their seat. It was strange, really, because both of them knew so many topics to talk about when Ven was with them, but as soon as they ended up being with each other, there was only silence. Perhaps the blond had a way of making things... livelier?

The blue-haired female took a deep, steadying breath before she started, "...Terra?"

"Hmm?"

Aqua opened her mouth, but hesitated once again and closed it. To be honest, she had a double feeling about this. Should she really ask him what was on her mind? But what if he didn't like the question and got mad at her? Or what if she'd hear something that would break her heart? On the other hand, if she didn't ask now, she wouldn't get that chance again, she just knew that. Something told her that it would be too late after the Mark of Mastery Exam to talk about this, but she put that worrying thought quickly aside.

Terra, who seemed to have noticed that something was off, briefly studied her face, wondering what it was that was bugging her. Normally, the blue-haired teen had no problem with making her thoughts known.

"What is it, Aqua?"

Aqua looked up at him, biting her lower lip. "Well, I was just wondering... What happens after tomorrow? What I mean is... What will change between us after...after the exam?" Her voice had become a quiet whisper now.

Terra's cobalt blue eyes widened slightly at that question. Did she just... Was she asking about what he thought - no, _hoped_ - she was asking?

He opened his mouth, but closed it again when he wasn't able to find the right words to say. It felt as though no words would be a good enough answer. Instead, he got up from his place and walked over to the empty chair next to Aqua. He took her hands in his and squeezed them reassuringly.

"Nothing, I promise." It was out before he could stop it. He continued, "I mean... maybe we could go and visit all the words together like we used to say when we were little?" That eerily neutral look on Aqua's face made him rethink what he'd just said. "Only if you'd want to, of course, I'm not forcing you, because I understand fully if you'd rather-"

Aqua effectively silenced him when she put her index finger on his lips. "No. I'd love to see more of the other worlds... with you," she whispered, unconsciously shifting closer to him.

"Really? That's... good."

"Yeah..."

Aqua's cerulean eyes seemed to suck him in, claiming his full attention. Still, Terra couldn't help it when his eyes travelled to her cherry-colored lips. They were looking so... inviting.

_Wait, what?_

Where had that thought suddenly come from?

The brunet's breath constricted in his throat when he finally noticed how close they were to each other... and they were only getting closer. In fact, his face was barely an inch away from Aqua's face. It was a wonder that he still could breathe normally in this situation. He'd never been this close to her before. At that realization, all thoughts he'd ever had seemed to leave his mind, as his brains made a short circuit. But that didn't matter, because his thoughts hadn't been coherent to begin with. This opportunity was almost too good to be true. He decided to go with it and claim those soft-looking lips as his, when...

"Terra… Aqua? What are you doing here?"

Apparently, it _had_ been too good to be true.

Both teens' eyes widened when they recognized that voice. They gasped and drew back in shock, looking up with a startled look, only to see Ven standing near the door, looking smaller and sleepier than ever in his white pyjama.

_Well, I was about to kiss her, when you decided to show up_, he thought, highly annoyed with the blonde's uncanny timing.

He didn't know what it was about Ven, but he always seemed to sense romantic moments between Aqua and him and effectively ruined them by showing up unexpectedly. It was like he had a special antennae for that.

"Uh, nothing. Terra and I just couldn't sleep, so apparently, we both thought that a glass of warm milk would help," Aqua explained with a small smile.

Terra gave her a sidelong glance and saw that she was red in the face. Well, then. He could only imagine what _he_ looked like now. It was probably a cross between a murdering look and a deer caught in the headlight kind of look.

Apparently, Ven's thoughts had still been too foggy to catch up that lie, because he merely exclaimed, "What? But... Why didn't you guys wake _me_ up, too?"

"Uh, well..." Aqua started.

She pleadingly looked at Terra for support. But when their eyes met, the brunet just knew what that look actually meant; they would come back to this subject later, when they both had passed the Mark of Mastery Exam.

He smirked. He was looking forward to that moment. And hopefully this time, Ven would leave them alone for a while longer, or at least walk in when they were done... talking. If not, then maybe he had to kidnap Aqua.

Or not. Either way, he still had to work on plan B.


End file.
